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Archive for the ‘Fantasy’ Category

Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas–Birthright: Volume Three: Allies and Enemies (2016)

Posted in Adriano Lucas, Alternate Reality, Andrei Bressan, Danubius, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Girth, Graphic Novel, Joshua Williamson, Lies, Marriage Trouble, Monsters, Time Travel, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Web of Mimicry, YA Books, Yuck! on October 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GIRTH-Sleeper, Awaken! (2007).

This was the other disc in the Web of Mimicry Clearance section.  And it is radically different from Danubius.

Girth is an experimental metal band and these songs are heavy on the epereimental and heavy on the heavy.  Their page on Web of Mimicry notes:

We toured with this line-up for 6 months or so September 2005 through February 2006. The shows were our most brutal and experimental to date, often going off on long improvisational rampages. We recorded a through-composed 19 minute movie-like piece in four movements, entitled “Sleeper Awaken.” With Randall Dunn at the board, our intentions for this piece, were to create a mindfuck journey of psychedelic metal to supply a soundtrack for the listener during his/her most “indulgent” moments. WARNING: Not for the weak at heart… bum trips guaranteed for the unexperienced, depending on his/her state of mind.     — GIRTH [Guitar: Dave Webb; Keyboards: Andrew McInnis; Drums: Peijman Kouretchian; Vocals: B.R.A.D. Mowen]

This labum reminds me a lot of Naked City (but without the Japanese screamed vocals).  There’s very heavy sections and radically shifts in time signature and volume.  There’s wailing solos and quiet sections.  There’s pounding drums and no drums.  And it’s all done in about 16 minutes.

There four songs have elaborate titles:

  1. Confusion – “On the day my illusion shatters, I SEE.”
    The disc opens with a ringing bell and feedback but after 20 seconds the calm is exploded with some noisy guitars and feedback.   But it isn’t until 40 seconds that the left ear guitar takes off with super fast chaotic soloing.  The other ear is overwhelmed by noisy guitar squalls.  Washes of static and noise fill both ears for a time until a sort of noisy hardcore riff comes in around 2 and half minutes in.  Things alternate between intense noise metal and soloing (with echoed effects).
  2. Betrayal – “I will rise as you will die, diminishing within my luminous pride.”
    The songs segue into each other.  This song begins with some thunderous drums (five beats over and over) and staccato noisy guitars.  The middle of the song quietens down to some running water and dialogue (barely audible) until the end.
  3. Alone – “Wallowing in my indulgence, I am blind.”  “Divine perceptions unshackle power to dive within.”
    This opens slowly with quiet whispered noises and rumbling drums.  At 3 minutes comes the intense hardcore attack of punishing drums and squealing guitar solos.  The end of the song is a kind of tornado of guitar noises that seem to swirl around in between heavy two note punctuations
  4. Chaos – “This being is a vessel. You cannot stop me. I am Free, I am Awake And I LOVE.”
    Those two note punctuations continue into this final track but with much more frequency and intensity.  There’s some vocal at the end, but nothing especially audible–we’re there “vocals.” With a few more pummels and a fast guitar solo, the 16 minutes comes to an end.

This is a pretty intense record indeed and definitely not for the uninitiated.  I am very curious how they pulled off this challenging record live.

[READ: April 18, 2017] Birthright: Volume Three

This story continues to grow in excitement and tension.  Brennan is getting a little frustrated that Mikey seems to be hiding something from him (he has been getting hints that Mikey is lying about his mission).

But first there is a flashback to a time when Mikey disobeyed his handler, Rook. In this instance he disobeyed in order to help a helpless victim.  A young girl was about to sacrificed to King Lore and he risked his own life to save her.  Rook is furious that he could have been killed but also because he has now changed the way the world is supposed to work–the girl’s death was supposed to be a regrettable necessity.

Back on Earth, Agent Kylen has paid a visit to Aaron in prison.  He asks for Aaron’s help in tracking down his sons.  Aaron says no way but Kylen indicates that it is not a request after all.  So Aaron tells Kylen about his old house in the burbs of Chicago.

At the same time, Rya and Wendy are searching for them as well.  Rya is getting more exhausted (she is really close to giving birth) so Wendy winds up driving her. (more…)

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Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas–Birthright: Volume Two: Call to Adventure (2015)

Posted in Adriano Lucas, Alternate Reality, Andrei Bressan, Danubius, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Joshua Williamson, Lies, Marriage Trouble, Monsters, Time Travel, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Web of Mimicry, YA Books, Yuck! on October 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DANUBIUS-Danubius (2002).

After seeing Secret Chiefs 3 recently, I went to the Web of Mimicry website and saw what other CDs they had to offer.  In their clearance bin, they had a couple of CDs including this one by Danubius.  So who are they?

Danubius is a San Francisco-based Eastern European band, specializing in traditional and Gypsy (Rom) music from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and other countries in the vicinity of the Danube River.  Led by Music Director Roman Titcu, our music has been called romantic, passionate, energizing, and can be described as a cross between the genres of folk and Classical music. We play both Western and traditional Hungarian, Romanian, and Bulgarian musical instruments, giving us a unique sound.

Yes, so even though Secret Chiefs 3 experiment with various Eastern Europeans styles, Danubius is not about experimentation at all.  They are about authenticity.   This 53 minute disc has twenty songs broken down into sections.  And the booklet is quite detailed in its explanation of the various songs and styles.

The members for this recording are David Skuse – vioolin, viola, gadulka, bass , drum ; David Nebenzahl – violin, viola, bass, tambura ; Clark Welsh – tárogató, fluier, Romanian caval, ocarina, Bulgarian tambura and kaval, prim and brach tambruricas, cobză and sax ; Jutka Mándoki – accordion, kontra, acoustic guitar, cimbalom, brasca (viola), Tekerőlant (hurdy-gurdy), ütőgardon (Beaten cello), bass ; Magdi Ordasi, Szilvi Gilbert, vocals ; former band member: Balázs Králik – bass, violin ; guests: Roman Titcu – tambal mare (cimbalom) ; Odile Lavault – accordion.

I enjoy that the notes state that some of the songs are intended as show off pieces.

The sections include (I tried to get every accent right, but there will be no searching for these titles).

Transylvanian Suite
Doină De Ardeal; Purtată și Invârtita Din Țara Fagarașului; Hațegana
This begins with some slow horn melodies as the rest of the band plays traditional backing instruments.  Accordion is prominent in some songs too.  The third is described as “a standard show-off piece.”

Hungarian Roma (Gypsy) style songs
The mandolin (the only instrument not listed up there so clearly one of the other ones–likely the prim which is a kind of tambura) runs free with this fast melody that grows faster as it goes on.  Made popular in the 1960s.

Caval Suite (Southern Romania)
Cântec Lui Dumitru Dobrican;  Joc Ca La Stâna
The caval is a long, five holed flute with a very soft sound.  There’s some truly lovely flute melodies over slow backing chords for the first one.  The second one is really fast a totally show-offy kind of piece with accompanimnet by the lute, the cobză .

Nóta Suite (Hungarian Gypsy Restaurant Style)
Friss Csárdás; Maros Víze Folyik Csendesen (“the water of the Maros flows quietly”); Minek A söke énnékem? (“What is the blonde to me”);  Hull A Fa Levele, Hull A Hó (“the tree’s leaves are falling, the snow is falling”)
Four very short pieces (none over 2 minutes) with primarily fiddle as the main melody.  The notes say that these kind of songs were usually mean as lead off for instrumental extravagance.  “Hull…” is probably the most popular instrumental tune of all time–each violinist tries to outdo the others.

Geamparalele (Romania Black Sea)
Geamparalele de la Cernavodă – Leliță loană – Geamparalele  Bătute
A fascinating whistle sound very fast ans almost birdlike.  This song is in Balkan 7/16 meter (2+2+3) with four lead instruments.

Bulgarian Suite
Melodija; Blateshnichka kopanitsa (“Hoeing”)
The first is a free rhythm tune.  It’s first lead instrument is the gadulka (Bulgarian folk fiddle) with three melody strings and 10 sympathetic strings.  There is no fingerboard and the notes are stopped with the fingers.  There’s also the Bulgarian kaval a 7 hole flute.  The second piece is in 11/16 (2+2+3+2+2) meter with tambura as lead.  There’s lots of beautiful soaring flute in the first of these two songs.  The second is a fast picking experience.

Dunántúli Suite (southern Hungary)
Urgós (“jumping”); Lassú / friss Csárdás (“Slow and fresh dances of the inn”)
This is the only section with vocals, which I don’t like as much as the instrumental songs.

Kyuchek  (Bulgarian Roma)
Flute is prominent in this song which is in 8/16 (3=3=2).

Muntenian Suite (Southern Romania)
Hora rară; Brâul pe șase (“belt dance in six”); Joc Țigănesc De Doi (“Roma dance for two”); Brâul Pe Opt  (“belt dance in eight”)
These are furiously fast dance songs.  The first was first heard by David during the Ceaseșcu years).   Violins dominate this song but with a delightful fluier (sounds like a penny whistle) added ion.  They’re mostly fast numbers all about 2 minute long.

This whole record is an enjoyable trip into Hungarian culture.  And you can dance to it (well, some people can dance to it).

[READ: April 17, 2017] Birthright: Volume Two: Call to Adventure

As this book opens up Aaron and his wife, Wendy, are trying to reconcile.  They both see that their children are in something big here.  Aaron is still super pissed that she even for a second considered that he killed Mikey, and she is still pissed about well, everything else.  But they are willing to talk it out.

That is until Agent Kylen with the National Security Agency busts in and tells him that Agent Brooks is no longer on this case–things have gotten too serious.

Meanwhile back in the woods, Mikey is trying to toughen up Brennan a bit–cold river baths and a bit of swordplay, when they are attacked by a large bear.  But rather than violence, Mikey is able to communicate with the bear and pacify it.  Mikey says that he has a way with animals.  And then proceeds to smash its skull in.  Brennan is outraged, shocked, aghast that his brother could kill so easily.  But Mikey just say to do what you have to to survive.

Wendy discovers the journal that Mikey created when he was first in Terrenos.  And this is great way to learn a little more about his life there.  She reads how Mikey really wants to come home, but that he knows he has a job to do. (more…)

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Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas–Birthright: Volume One: Homecoming (2015)

Posted in Adriano Lucas, Alternate Reality, Andrei Bressan, Dave Clark, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Joshua Williamson, Levon Helm, Lies, Marriage Trouble, Monsters, The Woodshed Orchestra, Time Travel, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), YA Books, Yuck!, tagged on October 14, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE WOODSHED ORCHESTRA-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (December 5, 2012).

The Rheostatics were originally supposed to play 3 Reunion concerts to help celebrate the 65th Anniversary of The Horseshoe Tavern. Unfortunately the concerts got cancelled but Dave stepped in and offered up a free show on Wednesday December 5 2012, what was to be the first of the reunion shows.  Dave Clark’s Woodshed Orchestra opened the show with a 48 minute set of New Orleans-style jazz (a limiting descriptor since their site says):

Legendary Toronto drummer Dave Clark (Rheostatics, Dinner is Ruined, The WoodChoppers Association, Gord Downie and Charles Spearin) pilots a five-piece horn section, four-piece rhythm section and full-ensemble vocals through New Orleans Funk, 2nd line and Jazz, R&B, Ska, Soul, Reggae, Punk, Rock n Roll, Blues, Country, Surf Rock, Neo-Greek, Ranchero, Polka, Disco, Samba, Afro-Pop, Waltz, New Wave, Cajun, Tex-Mex, Power Pop, Klezmer, Torch Ballads, Tango and Calypso, in an extraordinary celebration. This band is a funky, uplifting and joyful ride every time it plays.

The joy is utterly true. Dave is a warm and friendly guy, introducing all songs with a smile and calling everyone “friends.”

The play nine songs from their three albums.  Each song is a variant on that New Orleans style of tuba and banjo (and more of course).  It’s exemplified by “Love Letter to New Orleans” a song that seems like an instrumental but which is actually just really long before the words come in.

Dave introduces the second song, “There’s certain things I forget…. ”  “Drugs & Alcohol” is, unsurprisingly, a song about drinking.  He introduces our friend Pavel (Paul Kolinski) and then Karen Ng on “I Got No Clue.”

The next song’s entire lyrics are the band members meowing while they play.  I can’t find the name of the song.

Dave introduces the next song as a dancing song dedicated to one of the greatest guitarists to walk the planet.  It could be me or you or anyone on the planet because were all great then we try.  But this is for “Levon Helm” who looks like he was a bout to die on stage but still gave two hours of the slinkiest, grooviest music.

Next, Karen Ng is going to play you a song and then teach it to you: “Seasons of our Lives.”

Dave says, “We’re good for two more numbers or so and then we’ll take it out to the hallway.”

Then: “Let me name some names: Geezer Butler, Erica Badu, the guy from Crazy Horse who doesn’t t move but he’s got a really good voice.  Tim Vesely.”  This is all an introduction to their song “Geddy Lee.”

Want to hear a sing about sex?  “Clothes Off” features the line: “Come on take your clothes off I wanna see you naked.”

The final song is dedicated to each and every one of you and people you don’t get to see.”   “Penny & Mousie’s Antidotal Lullabye” is a sweet slow number, a nice send off of love and tenderness.

Considering that Dave Clark was always the weirdo in the band, and he is still a bit of a goof, this music is really sincere, and really good.

[READ: April 16, 2017] Birthright Volume 1

The name of this book intrigued me when I saw it in the library.  And I really liked the cover image.  So I grabbed it and volume two.

And man, did  I love how quick and abrupt the beginning of the story came.

On page one a dad is throwing a ball to his young son.  On page two the dad talks to his wife while the boy, Mikey, runs into the woods for the ball.  On page four Mikey is officially missing and the police have been called in.  On page five the dad is being accused of killing his son and by page ten the parents have filed for divorce.  Yowza.

In that time the mom has started dating one of the detectives (I think).  The dad, Aaron, has become a useless drunk.  But there is some news on the case.  The detective calls both of the parents and their older son Brennan into the precinct because they have brought someone in.

The man is in his mid 30s, totally muscular and wearing intense armor.  They immediately think that this man abducted Mikey. But the dad says no, that IS Mikey.  WHAT?  The detective says that the DNA matches. It makes no sense, but there are real indications that it is indeed Mikey.  It’s just that time moves faster where he went, obviously.

Mikey tells them it was destiny and then we see how he was grabbed by some flying creatures and some large orc-like creatures.  There is a brief story of Mikey’s introduction to Terranos–where it is his destiny to be the world’s hero.  And he has come back to earth to protect it from the bad guys of Terranos who plan to invade.

Twists upon twists and great storytelling.  But a pretty standard premise, right?

No, because Williamson has one more twist up his sleeve. (more…)

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Philip Pullman–The Scarecrow and His Servant (2004) [audiobook 2005–Graeme Malcolm]

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Bandits, Birds, C., Children's Books, Corporate skewering, Courtroom, Delusions, Environmentalism, Fantasy, Food, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graeme Malcolm, Greed, Humiliation, Law, Nature, Philip Pullman, Revenge, Romance, Scarecrows, War on August 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: April 2016] The Scarecrow and His Servant 

I was looking for a story that C. and I could listen to in the mornings when I drove him to school.  I didn’t want it to be too long (our commute was only 15 minutes), but I wanted it to be really enjoyable.

I know Pullman from the His Dark Materials series which I loved.  But I didn’t know much else by him.  This story seemed unusual, to say the least, but it was a perfect length–about 3 hours–for morning drives.

The audio book was read by Graeme Malcolm, and he did an amazing job–he had a great variety of voices at his disposal and he really made the story come to life.

The story is really quite unusual.  It begins with the history of the titular scarecrow.  How a man made him–and gave him a lovely turnip for a head–dressed him smartly and tucked a piece of paper, to show ownership, into his jacket pocket.  Pretty much straightaway, he is stolen, and then stolen again and then one more time until he is very far from home standing in a field.

And then he is struck by lightning and comes to life! (more…)

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Kathryn Siebel–The Trouble with Twins (2016) [audiobook 2016–Cassandra Campbell & Katherine Kellgren]

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Cassandra Campbell, Cats, Child Development, Children's Books, Explorers, Fantasy, Fears, Fire, Funny (ha ha), Giants, Greed, Hospitals, Humiliation, Idiots, Júlia Sardà, Jealousy, Katherine Kellgren, Kathryn Siebel, Language, Marriage Trouble, Nightmares, Parenting, Regrets, Runaways, Set at School on August 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2017] The Trouble with Twins

I grabbed this book because it seemed kind of interesting.  I see also that this book was released in the UK as Missing Arabella, which I think is a slightly better title).  I wasn’t entirely sure if we’d like it.  I mean, we don’t have twins and this is about twins and I wasn’t sure that our 12-year-old boy would like a book about twin girls.

But holy cow was this book outstanding!  It was utterly hilarious and the way it was read aloud was genius.

The book begins with this wonderful setup:

And so it begins in front of the fire, the story of two twin sisters.  One remains with her family in their lovely country house, where yellow roses perfume the air.  The other waits for her in another house, where she stands alone at huge arched windows.  She is restless, pacing wooden floors that creak in the night when a cat jumps down from the bed to chase at shadows.

And then in different typeface:

“What are their names?” the girls asks.  “The sisters.”
“Arabella and Henrietta.”
“Are they lonely,” asks the girl.
“They belong together,” says the mother.  “And it makes them sad to be apart.”
“Can’t you tell a happy story?” the girl asks.
“With puppies and a garden?”
“Yes!” says the girl.
“I’m only telling it the way my mother told it to me,” the mother says.
“And will there be puppies?” the girls persists.  “Or only gloomy girls at windows?”

(more…)

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Edward Eager–Half Magic (1954) [audiobook 1999–Words Take Wing Repertory Company]

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Boredom, Cats, Children's Books, Edward Eager, Fantasy, Fire, Funny (ha ha), King Arthur, Magic, Marriage (Happy), Time Travel, Unfinished series, Words Take Wing Repertory Company on August 14, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2017] Half Magic

I grabbed this book at the library not realizing that Tabby had just started reading it on her own.

The selling point for me on this was that it was described as being “set in Ohio in the 1920s, yet fresh and funny now as the day it was written.”  And that was totally true.  This book was very very funny and the location and time was pretty much irrelevant.

This is the story of four (very precocious) children: Jane, Mark, Katharine and Martha. The beginning of the book has a great time creating and addressing their characters:

Jane was the oldest and Mark was the only boy, and between them they ran everything.

Katharine was the middle girl, of docile disposition and a comfort to her mother. She knew she was a comfort, and docile, because she’d heard her mother say so. And the others knew she was, too, by now, because ever since that day Katharine would keep boasting about what a comfort she was, and how docile, until Jane declared she would utter a piercing shriek and fall over dead if she heard another word about it. This will give you some idea of what Jane and Katharine were like.

Martha was the youngest, and very difficult.

The children’s’ father was dead and their mother worked full-time.  They were looked after by Miss Bick:

Miss Bick came in every day to care for the children, but she couldn’t seem to care for them very much, nor they for her.

(more…)

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Jarrett J. Krosoczka–Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle (Book 10) (2014)

Posted in Children's Books, Completed Series, Fantasy, Food, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Ljova and the Kontraband, Lunch, Math, Museums, Set at School, Short Books, Sidekicks, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert on June 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LJOVA AND THE KONTRABAND-Tiny Desk Concert #612 (April 14, 2017).

Ljova and the Kontraband play a rollicking blend of gypsy music with a twist.

There’s a viola, an accordion, an upright bass and a hand drum.  And they play rollicking fast trad music as well as delicate sow ballads.

Ljova and the Kontraband embraces Western classical, jazz and an array of international styles including tango and Eastern European and Balkan folk music. These top-flight musicians, who hail from Russia, Lithuania, the U.S. and Switzerland, pile all of these sounds atop of each other with great glee, and emerge with creations that alight on totally new and exciting terrain.

The band is led by the composer, arranger and viola player Ljova (Lev Zhurbin), who comes by this musical eclecticism naturally: the Moscow native, who comes from a family heavily involved in the arts, has worked with an astonishingly wide and starry group of collaborators, including Jay Z, the Bollywood queen Asha Bhosle and cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. In this Kontraband setting, he and his bandmates (including Ljova’s wife, the preternaturally sweet-voiced, Lithuanian-born singer Inna Barmash) create performances of deep earthiness, fragile tenderness, ebullient humor and quicksilver shifts in texture.

“Love Potion, Expired” is one of those fast songs with twists and turns and all kinds of solos.  The middle section is practically a percussion solo by Mathias Künzli (from Switzerland).  While the strings and accordion are sort of fiddling away on a couple of notes, Künzli (on his box drum) plays a sophisticated solo on the box which also includes all manner of percussion–cymbals, clackers, shakers, finger cymbals and other things that clatter (he even includes his thigh at one point).

It’s followed by an appropriately wild accordion solo (and that instrument is gorgeous) by Patrick Farrell (from Michigan).  The song is played at breakneck speed and is really fun.

The second song introduces us to Inna Barmash (Ljova’s wife). She explains that “Ven Ikh Zol Hobn Fligelekh (If I Had Wings)” is a Yiddish folk song from Western Ukraine.  She says the beginning of the poem is translated as “If I had wings I would fly to you if i had chains I would pull you to me.”  It id played as pizzicato and strummed viola while Inna sings.

But the heart of their Tiny Desk Concert was the song “By the Campfire,” whose words have a long, strange history that goes back to the Middle Ages. The words originally come from 12th-century Germany; Ljova’s grandfather, a noted translator, translated this poem from German to Russian, which Ljova uses in his musical setting.

Barmash gave us her own English translation of this unsettling, stunning, and perhaps even prophetic text: “Lies and spite command the world / Suffocate its consciousness, / Truth is poisoned, dead is law / Honor killed — obscene extolled! / … And the wisdom of our days / Teaches theft, deceit and hate.”

There are a couple of parts to this song.  As it begins, the accordion sounds like flutes.  Barmash sings beautifully for a few verses.  And then in the middle she sings a long sustained note that seems to signal the band to start on a chaotic section with everyone playing things crazily for a few seconds.  Then she does another long note and the song turns into traditional Russian type of dance.  There are many parts and this song goes through all of them.

Before the final song Ljova apologizes for disturbing their lunch.  “Walking on Willoughby” was written by Patrick, it’s a fun, wild polka that’s seven minutes long.   There are many parts to this song as well.  At times the viola and accordion play off of each other.  There’s several opportunities from each of them to solo held together by that thumping bass by Jordan Morton (from Syracuse).

The middle slows down to a one two count as the accordion plays a disjointed sounding solo.  There’s even more after that as this song just spirals in all directions.

[READ: July 10, 2016] Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle

This appears to be the final book of the Lunch Lady series.  The book ends on something of a cliffhanger but to the best of my knowledge, no book has come out after this one.

But don’t be sad because this is a very satisfying conclusion.

As we left book 9, Lunch Lady had been fired.  She is so despondent that when the opening pages feature bad guys doing bad things, she’s not even there to stop them. It’s the fifth bank to be robbed in two weeks and Lunch Lady is just lounging about eating ice cream.  Egads!

But even worse, the school is a shambles–the superintendent has put a portrait of herself in every room (even the bathrooms).  Te teachers have been replaced by convicts, the principal has been replaced by Mr Edison who was put away in book 3 and even more shocking, Milmoe is being nice to them–he realizes he’s in over his head as student council president. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“Mo Willems’s Funny Failures” (New Yorker, February 6, 2017)

Posted in Books about writers, Child Development, Children's Books, Essays, Fantasy, Fears, Food, Funny (ha ha), New Yorker, New Zealand, Parenting, Rivka Galchen, Sheep inthe Big City, Tash Sultana, The Man Who Yelled, The Off-Beats, Tiny Desk Concert on June 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TASH SULTANA-Tiny Desk Concert #610 (April 7, 2017).

Tash Sultana is a force of nature.  I’d heard her song “Jungle” a bunch of times on the radio before seeing this.  I thought it was interesting and kind of catchy with some cool guitar work.  But it never occurred to me that Sultana was doing the whole thing BY HERSELF!

For this Tiny Desk, she recreates that song (and two others) entirely by herself with loops and loops and effects and all kinds of good stuff.

As “Jungle” opens, Tash plays the guitar chords and loops them.  And then she plays the opening riff.  And loops it.  And then more riffs on top and loops them.  She creates a huge sound for about a minute and a half.  Then when all that sounds good, she starts playing the drum machine.

It’s so much fum watching her dance around her little area (barefoot, mind you) tapping pedals and setting effects on and off.  And when she starts soloing, she’s got a perpetually big smile on her face just really enjoying all of the work she;s doing and the sounds she’s making.

She finally starts singing and she’s got two microphones–the chorus gets the second microphone which has a processor and echo to totally change her sounds.

And then towards the end of the song she starts messing around with a solo and has all kinds of effects at hand for whichever part of the solo she’s doing, including a wild, ass-kicking, classic-rock style solo that all mellows out into  sweetly echoed section and a gentle guitar ending.  The song itself isn’t that complicated, but holy cow she packs so much into its 7 minutes.

So who the hell is Tash Sultana?

This 21-year-old Maltese-Australian got a guitar from her grandfather when she was three, she says, and has played it every day since. It’s astonishing to watch Sultana’s fluidity on her instrument, like a natural extension of her body. (She also plays bass, saxophone, trumpet, flute and more, but kept it “simple” at the Tiny Desk.) I thought I had a lot of energy — watching her bounce from guitar to drum machine to two separate microphones — and then hopping barefoot from looping pedal to effect pedal as she builds her songs was exhilarating and exhausting.

She says she wrote “Notion” when she was having a difficult time with myself… and someone else.

It opens with that her singing “oohs” into that processed mic and it sounds otherworldly.  And then again she jumps around from guitar to drum machine looping more and more.  Although it’s interesting that most of the song stays kind of mellow.  Her melody is very pretty and her voice is great.  The only trouble is it’s kind of hard to understand what she;s singing.  But its fun that she’s singing some of the song without playing anything else (it’s all being looped) and how intensely she sings it.

After playing the song for some 9 minutes, she hits some pedals and the just takes off on a wailing guitar solo.

“Blackbird” is very different–it’s all played on acoustic guitar.  There’s no looping.  She says she wrote this while in New Zealand.  She was wandering and got lost in a cave.

But acoustic doesn’t mean simple folk song.  She plays some great riffs with her right hand while hammering-on with her left hand. The part around 19:15 is just fascinating to watch.  She must have an alternate tuning as well because when she plays opens strings it sounds great (and it’s 12 string as well, so it sounds even more full).

After singing a few verses she plays an incredibly fast section.

There’s just so much going on, and I have no idea if all of that is part of the songs or if she’s just going off into her own world.

I was so impressed by this set that I just got tickets to her when she comes to the area in a few weeks.

[READ: January 31, 2017] “Mo Willems’s Funny Failures”

I have never really written about Mo Willems, even though my family loves his books (I’ve even got an autographed copy of one of them).

The Piggy and Gerald books are wonderful first readers (and are fun for adults too) and Pigeon is the best bad-tempered character around.

Since I like Rivka Galchen and post about just about everything she writes, I wanted to include this here.  It is a biographical essay based on a few interviews she had with Willems. (more…)

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Jarrett J. Krosoczka–Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain (Book 9) (2013)

Posted in #RESIST, Children's Books, Delicate Steve, Fantasy, Food, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Lunch, Monsters, Set at School, Short Books, Sidekicks, Technology, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Video Games on June 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DELICATE STEVE-Tiny Desk Concert #607 (March 24, 2017).

Delicate Steve is Steve Marion.  He plays instrumental music with great “vocal lines” that come from his guitar.

On record he plays everything himself, but for this concert he brought a backing band.  So the bass (Jessica Pavone) and acoustic guitar (Jon Wiley) play a fairly simple song structure while Steve plays gorgeous lead lines (often using a glass slide to create cool sounds and voices).  The drums area also particularly cool in these songs as drummer Max Jaffe really goes to down on the electronic drums he’s playing.

On the four songs, Steve has a Panasonic FM/AM Premium Stereo Cassette hi-fi, to plug his trusty custom guitar into.

“Afria Talks To You” is a great rocking song (the drums are particularly booming) and the backing music plays some big chords while Steve makes some great soloing throughout. I particularly love that his solos are just showing off, they are genuinely enjoyable melodies.

“Winners” has a delightfully upbeat almost cartoony sound for the first melody, before it switches into a really groovy sound (there’s also a middle section that sounds an awful lot like “Mrs Robinson” (think: “Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes,” even the bass is the same), but the rest of the song is quite unique and really fun.

“Tomorrow” is a slow groovy song with some fun bass to start with.  Then there’s a great guitar line on top.  I really love the way these songs all seem to have so many things going on in them.  The middles section turns into a different type of song entirely without sounding like it’s disconnected.  There’s also some kind of synth coming through–although maybe its just his guitar making extra sounds?

Introducing the final song “Night Life” Steve says “We took all the words out because Bob said there were no microphones”.  This is perhaps the simplest melody of all of the songs.  But it doesn’t take away from the quality of the song overall.  The end is very funny because you know it’s supposed to end on a chord but he halts it without playing it….it just hangs there feeling unfinished.

He jokes, “we’ll play that chord next time.”  You hear Bob say “we gotta wait five years?”

Instrumental music can be a challenging prospect, but Delicate Steve makes incredibly catchy songs that don’t suffer in any way from a lack of words.

[READ: July 8, 2016] Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain

Book 9 opens with Lunch Lady saving the day with some deadly honey mustard.

But this book is all about elections. And video games!

Turns out that Hector is distracted from running for student council president because he can’t find his X Station Mobile anywhere.  But he needs to focus on the campaign because bully Milmoe is running and has already spent a ton of money on banners and cookies and everything else that makes elections so much fun.

But beyond the elections, there’s a lot happening in the school.  A lot of electronics are missing although we see Gavin Computo has a new e-reader (and he’s rather smug about it).

News is also out that the new superintendent Eliza von Grindheimer (not Betsy DeVos) will soon be revolutionizing the schools.  She will be investigating their school soon. (more…)

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Jarrett J. Krosoczka–Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril (Book 8) (2012)

Posted in Children's Books, Fantasy, Food, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Holi, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Lunch, Museums, Red Baraat, Set at School, Short Books, Sidekicks, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on June 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RED BARAAT’S HOLI CELEBRATION-Tiny Desk Concert #605 (March 13, 2017).

Red Baraat is one of a few bands who have now made a second appearance on Tiny Desk.  This return is to celebrate Holi.  And celebrate they do!

I’m not really sure how to categorize Red Baraat’s music.  They are based around a traditional drum (the dhol) and yet they play a kind of jazz with lots of brass, but they also use a guitar and lots of percussion.

In the first song “Sialkot” they march through the audience playing the music until they get behind the stage. Once they settle in, the guitarist is using a bow (making some very cool sounds) and in the middle of the first song he’s all over the whammy bar.

So what does the blurb say:

Red Baraat’s fusion of bhangra, go-go, hip-hop and jazz is driven by frontman Sunny Jain’s percolating playing of the dhol, a double-sided drum which forms the rhythmic lattice of support for their boisterous horns and guitar. And though Red Baraat graced the Tiny Desk five years ago, we had to have Jain’s band back to celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of color, of good over evil, and the coming of spring. Usually you’d see the dusting of brightly colored perfumed powders strewn in the air, covering bodies and clothing. The notion of doing that in the office was a fun thought, but the band (with my nudging) opted instead for confetti cannons and passing candied treats. It made for quicker cleanup, but their uplifting spirits lingered on, giving us a chance to shake off the final days of winter and demonstrating why music is so essential to the soul.

The second song is “Zindabad.” I love watching the sousaphone player who is really into the music.  And there is so much great percussion from the two drummers.

“Bhangale” opens with some super fast chanting from Jain and then some really fun chanting from everyone.  There’s so many cool moments in between the main horn playing where the guitarist is just playing these wild noisy guitar sounds. And then some really fast guitar solos.   There is so much chanting and singing amid the music that the joy is infectious.

  I had listened to the final song “Se Hace Camino” without seeing the title and I thought that they were singing in Spanish, which they apparently are.  This song has an almost ska feel, it’s so fast.  And again the fun is infectious, especially when the confetti starts flying all over the room.

I need to get involved in a proper Holi celebration next year.

Red Baraat is: Sunny Jain (dhol, vocals); Rohin Khemani (percussion); Chris Eddleton (drums); Sonny Singh (trumpet, vocals); Jonathan Goldberger (guitar); Jonathon Haffner (soprano sax); Raymond James Mason (trombone); Steven Duffy (sousaphone)

[READ: July 6, 2016] Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril

As Book 7 ends, Hector has a huge zit on his nose.  And picture day is coming up!  But before we can get to the photographic evidence, Lunch Lady has to stop the bad guys from stealing people’s lunch money–from an ATM.

But back to the Breakfast bunch.  Both Hector and now Terrence are covered in acne.  An it’s picture day.  The student council president tries to give everyone makeup for the photos, but Dee wants nothing to do with it.  It turns out that lots of kids are covered in acne so they start blaming the greasy food from lunch lady.  She rightly points out that the “link” between zits and greasy food is just a myth.  But clearly something has caused this outbreak.

The photographer comes into school and she is chic and fabulous. She loves meeting the “guybrarian” and fawns over lunch Lady’s look. (more…)

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